Light

This painting came to me as I was reflecting on the folktale called ‘The Raven who stole the Light’.

It’s a pretty simple story, one that survived generations of retelling, but is packed with metaphors for everyone and anyone in all different stages and ages of life.

An old man has hidden the light causing all to live in constant darkness.

He hid it in boxes, one inside another like Russian stacking dolls. He hid it because he was afraid. He was afraid to see. He was afraid to know whether his daughter was beautiful or not. He was afraid of what either might mean. So he banished light for himself and everyone and everything in the world.

One day a clever Raven decided to steal the light from the man.

A long convoluted plan was carried out to trick the man and his heart into allowing each box to be opened, until light was returned to the world.